Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation
Abstract Background India is revising its mental health legislation with the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 (IMHA). When implemented, this legislation will apply to over 1.25 billion people. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a Resource Book (WHO-RB) on mental health, human ri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2017-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Mental Health Systems |
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| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13033-017-0155-1 |
| _version_ | 1819169375369822208 |
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| author | Richard M. Duffy Brendan D. Kelly |
| author_facet | Richard M. Duffy Brendan D. Kelly |
| author_sort | Richard M. Duffy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background India is revising its mental health legislation with the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 (IMHA). When implemented, this legislation will apply to over 1.25 billion people. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a Resource Book (WHO-RB) on mental health, human rights and legislation, including a checklist of 175 specific items to be addressed in mental health legislation or policy in individual countries. Even following the publication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (2006), the WHO-RB remains the most comprehensive checklist for mental health legislation available, rooted in UN and WHO documents and providing the most systematic, detailed framework for human rights analysis of mental health legislation. We sought to determine the extent to which the IMHA will bring Indian legislation in line with the WHO-RB. Methods The IMHA and other relevant pieces of Indian legislation are compared to each of the items in the WHO-RB. We classify each item in a binary manner, as either concordant or not, and provide more nuanced detail in the text. Results The IMHA addresses 96/175 (55.4%) of the WHO-RB standards examined. When other relevant Indian legislation is taken into account, 118/175 (68.0%) of the standards are addressed in Indian law. Important areas of low concordance include the rights of families and carers, competence and guardianship, non-protesting patients and involuntary community treatment. The important legal constructs of advance directives, supported decision-making and nominated representatives are articulated in the Indian legislation and explored in this paper. Conclusions In theory, the IMHA is a highly progressive piece of legislation, especially when compared to legislation in other jurisdictions subject to similar analysis. Along with the Indian Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, it will bring Indian law closely in line with the WHO-RB. Vague, opaque language is however, used in certain contentious areas; this may represent arrangement-focused rather than realisation-focused legislation, and lead to inadvertent limitation of certain rights. Finally, the WHO-RB checklist is an extremely useful tool for this kind of analysis; we recommend it is updated to reflect the CRPD and other relevant developments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:18:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7c28deef8a8e417e85f0ec1d98977ed3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1752-4458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T19:18:30Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Mental Health Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-7c28deef8a8e417e85f0ec1d98977ed32022-12-21T18:15:26ZengBMCInternational Journal of Mental Health Systems1752-44582017-08-0111112410.1186/s13033-017-0155-1Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health LegislationRichard M. Duffy0Brendan D. Kelly1Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Centre for Health Science, Tallaght HospitalDepartment of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Centre for Health Science, Tallaght HospitalAbstract Background India is revising its mental health legislation with the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 (IMHA). When implemented, this legislation will apply to over 1.25 billion people. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a Resource Book (WHO-RB) on mental health, human rights and legislation, including a checklist of 175 specific items to be addressed in mental health legislation or policy in individual countries. Even following the publication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (2006), the WHO-RB remains the most comprehensive checklist for mental health legislation available, rooted in UN and WHO documents and providing the most systematic, detailed framework for human rights analysis of mental health legislation. We sought to determine the extent to which the IMHA will bring Indian legislation in line with the WHO-RB. Methods The IMHA and other relevant pieces of Indian legislation are compared to each of the items in the WHO-RB. We classify each item in a binary manner, as either concordant or not, and provide more nuanced detail in the text. Results The IMHA addresses 96/175 (55.4%) of the WHO-RB standards examined. When other relevant Indian legislation is taken into account, 118/175 (68.0%) of the standards are addressed in Indian law. Important areas of low concordance include the rights of families and carers, competence and guardianship, non-protesting patients and involuntary community treatment. The important legal constructs of advance directives, supported decision-making and nominated representatives are articulated in the Indian legislation and explored in this paper. Conclusions In theory, the IMHA is a highly progressive piece of legislation, especially when compared to legislation in other jurisdictions subject to similar analysis. Along with the Indian Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, it will bring Indian law closely in line with the WHO-RB. Vague, opaque language is however, used in certain contentious areas; this may represent arrangement-focused rather than realisation-focused legislation, and lead to inadvertent limitation of certain rights. Finally, the WHO-RB checklist is an extremely useful tool for this kind of analysis; we recommend it is updated to reflect the CRPD and other relevant developments.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13033-017-0155-1Human rightsJurisprudencePsychiatryMental disordersLegislationCoercion |
| spellingShingle | Richard M. Duffy Brendan D. Kelly Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation International Journal of Mental Health Systems Human rights Jurisprudence Psychiatry Mental disorders Legislation Coercion |
| title | Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation |
| title_full | Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation |
| title_fullStr | Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation |
| title_short | Concordance of the Indian Mental Healthcare Act 2017 with the World Health Organization’s Checklist on Mental Health Legislation |
| title_sort | concordance of the indian mental healthcare act 2017 with the world health organization s checklist on mental health legislation |
| topic | Human rights Jurisprudence Psychiatry Mental disorders Legislation Coercion |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13033-017-0155-1 |
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